Ever since Bitcoin [BTC] and other cryptocurrencies hit their all-time high, they witnessed a massive plunge in terms of their price and market cap. This reverse trend of the cryptocurrency market left a majority of the investors and traders devastated as they believed that the value of the coins would continue to skyrocket.

Now, it’s been over a year since all the currencies reached their ATH and since then, a majority of the coins have lost more than 90% of their value. Bitcoin [BTC], the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has lost over 80% of its value and Ethereum [ETH], the third largest cryptocurrency has lost around 92% of its value when compared to their all-time high. To add on, some market investors speculate that crypto-winter has just begun and that it is going to last longer than the previous one. However, some investors and market players have turned even this bearish market to their advantage.

According to a report by Bloomberg, there is a rise in a practice known as staking. Here, investors tokens are collected in its respective cryptocurrency wallet and this is then used to validate transactions. All the investors taking part in this practice are later rewarded in coins. The returns range anywhere between 5% to 150% and are influenced by the number of coins held by the investors. This method is applicable for all the coins based on proof-of-stake [PoS] consensus algorithms such as Tezos, EOS, and Livepeer.

This practice is followed by many in the industry with the leading players noted to be Staked, Figment and EON Staking Inc. Based on the report, the firm Staked raised around $4.5 million from investors including Digital Currency Group, Coinbase and Pantera.

Kyle Samani, the Managing Partner at Multicoin Capital Management said in an interview with Bloomberg:

“Regardless of market conditions, staking provides returns denominated in the asset being staked. If you’re going to be long, you might as well stake.”

Paul Veradittakit, a Partner at Menlo Park, said:

“As we see more proof-of-stake protocols emerge, the ability to stake your tokens and earn interest from staking is a great way to make money. An ability to make strong consistent returns.”